No. 11 Bears Drop Overtime Heartbreaker to No. 2 Houston, 82-76

WACO, Texas — The No. 11 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (19-8, 8-6) dropped a second game in a row, this time a heartbreaking overtime loss to the No. 2 Houston Cougars (24-3, 11-3) by a score of 82-76.

Yves Missi had a chance to break a 69-69 deadlock with just four seconds in regulation, but he could not convert his and-one opportunity at the free throw line.

After another opponent buzzer-beater was waved off to take it to OT, Baylor couldn’t finish through the scrap at the basket enough to keep up with the free throws Houston was making at the other end.

It was — as Kelvin Sampson put it — truly three different games. The first half saw Houston take it to Baylor in a very physical manner. The Coogs rode a 10-0 run to a 16-point halftime lead.

Ja’Kobe Walter kept the Bears from falling completely out of reach with 11 of his game-leading 23 points, including three triples.

To start the second half, Baylor returned the 10-0 run, cutting the deficit to four and igniting the home crowd.

The green and gold kept clawing to erase the Houston lead, but they could not tie it up until Missi’s bucket at the end of regulation.

The offensive output for the Bears was well distributed with RayJ Dennis scoring 21 points, Jalen Bridges netting 17 and Jayden Nunn finishing with 11.

Defensively, after getting ripped up in half one, the Bears held the Coogs to just 28 points in half two on 33% shooting.

With 19 turnovers, the Bears hurt themselves a good bit though Houston is the best defense according to KenPom.

After the game, Baylor head coach Scott Drew spoke about the care-factor of his team despite the struggles. 

“They care about that. They were disappointed with their effort.”

Now the Bears continue the tough run-in to the postseason taking a road trip to Fort Worth to face TCU on Monday night. That game will be televised on ESPN and will tip off at 8 PM CT.